Thursday, July 3, 2008

Go See the Tiger

This past Christmas season when there was an "issue" at the San Francisco Zoo that provoked the killing of humans and tigers, I mentioned the idea that maybe, just maybe, if we wanted to see a tiger bad enough we should grow some balls and go see it in its natural environment.

Lately I have been eating my way through "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle" by Barbara Kingsolver and in chapter three have dawned to another thought that you could say spins off of the "go-see-the-tiger" sentiment, and that is the exportation of food from other countries. Yes, without exportation we would never get to taste champagne or prosciutto, but wouldn't half the fun of visiting France and Italy be in finally getting to taste those things?

There is the argument, says co-author and author's husband Steven Hopp, that by purchasing imported food we are "contributing to developing countries." But, Steven says, that argument is lost on the fact that corporate brokers of the import are the ones making the lion's share (pardon the word choice) of the profit, while the farmer reaping the harvest in Brazil makes little more than "$6 a day." Something to think about--there's always a company making money from something that's compromised to the end user. Flowers, raspberries, bananas, certain cheeses, etc all have to come from overseas. My mother tried a pineapple once, and got a fruit the size of a hand gernade, but there's a reason God doesn't want you building the Tower of Babel in Ohio. Mom's pineapple looked cute but tasted like wood.

I'm not advocating giving up any imported food, although I would like to. Still, I want to keep the few friends that I have, and I just discovered lamb about 4 years ago, and I don't think they raise much lamb in the Bay Area. The thought process is this, however. Kingsolver's family is starting out with some weeding out, so to speak. They begin their adventure with limiting themselves to picking out just one thing each that they can't live without. Mr. Hopp picked my favorite, COFFEE.

Although, if I moved to Hawaii I could get that locally along with Mom's attempt: a nature-intended pineapple.

Make a trip once a year to visit food and wild animals...try to buy local when you can...try keeping to mass transit...suddenly, SUDDENLY, my reason for being here seems a bit more clear. Try to the local stuff wherever I live. THAT is the big adventure.